In diagnostic laboratories, automated pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical laboratory instruments are used for various sample processing steps to produce accurate and reliable test results which represent pivotal information for physicians. Typically, such laboratory instruments are equipped with consumables, sample processing devices, waste containers, sample racks, and reagent racks which are accommodated in dedicated units assembled on a working surface within the laboratory instrument. Thus, the interior and the working surface of a laboratory instrument are built with a plurality of units and construction components which must be precisely adapted to one another for being assembled.
For a reliable and safe operation, such laboratory instruments have to be well maintained. The different components and the working surface of the laboratory instrument have to be cleaned on a regular basis to avoid cross contaminations which can lead to erroneous test results. The thorough cleaning of the interior of the laboratory instrument also ensures the safety of the operator and extends the laboratory instrument lifetime. As the downtime of the laboratory instrument should be kept as short as possible, the cleaning of the laboratory instrument should
be as efficient as possible. However, as conventional laboratory instruments comprise multiple assembled units and construction components, the working surface of the laboratory instrument may possess small gaps and splits which complicate the thorough cleaning of the interior of the laboratory instrument. Particularly, in laboratory instruments in the area of nucleic acid analytics where a highly sensitive analytical technology is used, smallest impurities may have severe consequences on test results and subsequent diagnosis.
Some sample processing steps include pipetting operations like the aspiration and/or dispensation of liquid samples and reagents out of and/or into vessels using a pipetting device. For those pipetting operations an accurate positioning of the pipette device relative to the sample vessels or reagent vessels positioned on the working surface is important as a physical contact between the pipette tip of the pipetting device and the sample vessels or reagent vessels can cause sample cross-contamination, reagent cross-contamination, and/or damage of the vessels or pipetting device of the laboratory instrument. Therefore, the positioning of the pipetting device has to be adjusted or calibrated on a regular basis.
U.S. Patent Publication Nos. US 2014/0263879 A1 and US 2009/0090198 A1 disclose laboratory apparatuses providing base plates or working surfaces for mounting or positioning other elements of the apparatuses.
There is a need to maintain diagnostic laboratory instruments in a simple and efficient way. It is an object of the present invention to improve conventional instrument working surfaces, particularly to better serve the needs of automated in vitro diagnostic sample processing.